NARCAN: The danger of a "Three Strikes" policy
While speaking with a relative last week, the topic moved to the opiate crisis and the use of Naloxone (NARCAN) to reverse the effects of opiate overdoses. He said something that I have heard all too often: "I think that once they've been Narcanned three times, we should just let them die." It's a common sentiment, and one that quite a few people share. I understand where they are coming from. Opioid abuse and the fallout thereof are a great burden on the EMS system. Most people who are "brought back" by NARCAN refuse to be transported for further evaluation at the hospital, meaning that the ambulance service generally bears the cost of the medication, equipment, and manpower required to save them. But I hope that those reading will consider something else: rarely ever has anyone woken up and said, "I think I'm going to get addicted to Meth today." A shocking number of people who abuse drugs of any kind got into it through fairly v